DIY – Crafts – Recipes – Etc.

Clothespin Wreaths

Another Pinterest-inspired craft that I wanted to try. The clothespin wreath pictured I hung on the inside of our front door. Anything we need to remember when we leave the house (water bill, daycare check, etc.), we clip it on the wreath and so far we haven’t forgotten them anymore because we see it as we open the door. I made another one for the kitchen and clipped all my tea bags to it, making a cute and functional piece for the kitchen.

What you will need:

Cardboard (heavy enough to support the weight of the clothespins and anything you pin on)

Scrapbook paper for background and for clothespins

Clothespins

Mod Podge or some other type of glue

Hot glue gun

Ribbon

Hook to hang it on

Spray paint (optional)

Various bits for decoration (optional)

What to do:

Trace a circle onto your cardboard; cut it out. Trace a smaller circle in the middle, and cut that out, too.

Trace your cut-out cardboard wreath on the back of the scrapbook paper. Cut it out outside of the lines so that you have enough to wrap around the cardboard. Cut perpendicular to the line to make tabs in the paper for the inner and outer circles.

Lay your paper flat, printed side down. Place the cardboard wreath on the paper, and glue the tabs down one by one with Mod Podge or whichever glue you choose to use.

While that dries, cut strips out of coordinating scrapbook paper the same width as the clothespins. Cut the strips to the length of the clothespins and glue them on with Mod Podge. (If you want to spray paint the clothespins, do that before starting on step 1 so they’ll dry in time.)

Hot glue the clothespins to the wreath. Stay aware of your spacing as you’ll need a little wiggle room when you open/close the clothespins.

If you want to add decorations such as stickers or odds and ends, do so now.

Tie the ribbon around the wreath.

Hang it up and put it to use!

Tips & Variations:

For the background of the wreath pictured above, I used pastel green cardstock as the background. Then I took it outside and gave it a liberal dusting of oil rubbed bronze spray paint followed by a light dusting of gold spray paint. When it dried, I used Mod Podge to create small swirls and then put down a gold foil leaf sheet left over from an Easter egg kit. I let that sit for a minute, then peeled it off. Since that particular sheet of foil had been used before, it only left little pieces instead of a full, solid line. Exactly what I wanted! It left me with an aged look that I liked. After all of that, I sprayed it down with a glossy acrylic sealer. Then I glued on the clothespins (also spray painted oil rubbed bronze, and then dusted with gold spray paint after I glued on the paper, finished with a coat of acrylic sealer). I finished up with some stickers I found in Hobby Lobby, and tied it off with various ribbons and some raffia.

You can also use fabric strips on the clothespins. You can further this by layering a soft fabric beneath a thinner strip of heavier fabric, fray the edges, and vary the widths to wider and thinner than the clothespins.